2016 Cannes Critics’ Panel Day 10: Refn Takes Fashionable Approach to “The Neon Demon”

Prior to hitting the Cannes comp with his Best Director prize winning Drive (2011) and the much disliked Only God Forgives (2013), this Danish-American had a healthy cult following and filmography of seven films that began with 1996’s Pusher. His third provoking trip on the Croisette is once again, eliciting some strong reactions from the populous supplying a bevy of colorful commentary such as Eric Kohn’s take: “This grotesque, hyperstylized treatise on the fashion industry recaptures some of the zany images and B-movie abstractions of Refn’s crossover effort, “Drive,” though it never quite gels on the same level of inspiration. But, sure, the brand is warranted — elegant, sensual, and blood drenched, this is a genuine NWR film on every level.”

The Neon Demon stars Elle Fanning with supporting perfs from Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Bella Heathcoate, Desmond Harrington and Karl Glusman from Gaspar Noé’s Love, our Nicholas Bell claims that “femininity isn’t weakness when wielded as a powerful tool—weakness is simply weakness, and perhaps more evident than in any of his previous films, within the confines of this subculture, life is a one dimensional merry-go-round of survival of the fittest.” 

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